• Sonangol orders $245 million LNG carrier from South Korea, delivery due 2028

• Vessel to export Angolan LNG; first new carrier in Sonangol fleet renewal

• Order aligns with Angola gas expansion as LNG output and projects grow

Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol has signed a contract worth about $245 million to build a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, Feb. 2, citing a regulatory filing by shipbuilder HD Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. The order is for a 174,000-cubic-metre LNG carrier, with delivery scheduled for 2028.

The vessel will be used mainly to export LNG produced in Angola to international markets. It is Sonangol’s first new LNG carrier order as part of a broader effort to renew the fleet supporting the country’s gas operations. The company already operates several LNG transport vessels, most of which were delivered in the early 2010s.

The investment comes as Angola expands its gas sector. The country has a single liquefaction facility, the Angola LNG plant in Soyo, with a capacity of 5.2 million tonnes per year.

The terminal is fed mainly by associated gas produced alongside offshore crude output. According to Angola’s National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), LNG production at Soyo rose 20% in November 2025.

Non-associated gas volumes have also been added to the plant’s supply as the New Gas Consortium project gradually comes on stream. The project is being developed by a group of companies led by Italy’s Eni, according to official statements.

In December 2025, Ecofin Agency reported the inauguration of a treatment unit in Soyo linked to the project, marking the start of production from the Quiluma and Maboqueiro fields on Block 2 off Angola’s coast. Angola has also drilled its first gas-only well under its National Gas Master Plan, which aims to provide a framework for investment and development in the country’s gas sector.

Abdel-Latif Boureima